Casey’s: We’re your neighbors, your friends, and your family.
April 22, 2023
Casey’s is a chain of convenience stores in the Midwestern and Southern United States.
In 1959, Donald Lamberti of Des Moines, Iowa, leased a service station from his father. His plan was to remodel the station and turn it into a convenience store, and he did just that.
Nine years into the business, Lamberti’s friend and gasoline supplier, Kurvin C. Fish, encouraged him to buy Square Deal Oil Company, a service station available for sale in Boone, Iowa. Lamberti loved the idea, purchased the property and converted it into a convenience store. He named his new store, Casey’s.
The town of Boone was small, with a population of just 12,500. However, Casey’s was a roaring success, so much so that Lamberti was inspired to open another store in the even smaller town of Creston, Iowa, population 7,000. The Creston store did so well that Lamberti opened another store in the tiny town of Waukee, Iowa, population 1,500. With the Waukee store being the most successful of the three, Lamberti knew he had found his niche. He pushed ahead, opening more stores, all of them in towns with populations of less than 5,000.
By the late 1970s Casey’s was a chain of 118 stores and Lamberti opened his first warehouse.
In 1982, Casey’s opened its first Distribution Center in Urbandale, Iowa. In 1983, it became a publicly traded company with an initial public offering of 700,000 shares.
In the early 1980s, Casey’s expanded its offerings and began to sell doughnuts and pizza.
Casey’s 1,000th store opened in Altoona, Iowa, in 1996, the same year Casey’s exceeded US$1 billion in annual sales.
The 2000s brought more expansion for Casey’s, with the purchase of Lincoln, Nebraska-based Gas ‘N Shop and the 33-store HandiMart chain based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (a $63 million deal).
In 2017, Casey’s announced plans to open 10 locations in western Ohio and in 2018, to build a store in Huber Heights, Ohio.
In October 2020, Casey’s dropped ‘General Stores” from its name and introduced its new logo. The following month, Casey’s announced it was acquiring the 94-store chain of Bucky’s Convenience Stores, in a $580 million deal.
In September 2021, Casey’s purchased all of the 38 Pilot Food Mart locations and two truck stop locations from Pilot Corporation.
Gloria Sauvé
Communications